Kang Couch

CultureChinese

Datelate 16th-early 17th century

MediumHuanghuali wood

DimensionsOverall: 38 1/4 × 82 1/4 × 49 5/8 inches (97.16 × 208.92 × 126.05 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number46-70.1-5

On View

Not on view

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

DescriptionA huanghuali luohanchuang the three-part back with a diamond foliate lattice each made up of four ruyi-shaped components joined to half diamonds within in mitred frame with a narrow open panel beneath, the long back section with a shaped apron. The base section with a seat frame drilled for soft matting construction but now with a hard matting seat. The outside edge of the frame with a serpentine molding with a square shoulder below. Beneath this is a recessed waist, a convex molding, another recessed waist, and then the flat apron carved with a beaded edge. The square section legs chamfered on the inside are mitred to the aprons but do not appear to be mortise-and-tenoned into the top frame. The legs terminate in a key pattern cut within the thickness of the leg. Reconstructed from 17th-century elements.Provenance

Provenance

Robert and William Drummond, Peking (now Beijing), China, by 1944 [1];

With Otto Burchard (1892-1965), Peking and New York, by February 1946 [2];

Purchased from Burchard by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1946.

NOTES:

[1] Robert and William Drummond were American expatriates in Peking who traded in Chinese furniture. Upon returning to the United States in the 1940s, they opened Transorient (later Dynasty Furniture) in New York. This couch was published as in the Drummonds’ collection in Gustav Ecke, Chinese Domestic Furniture (Peking: Henri Vetch, 1944), no. 19.

[2] This object was part of a group of furniture Otto Burchard brought with him when he moved from China to the United States in 1946. This group was first mentioned by Laurence Sickman, Curator of Asian Art, in a letter to J.C. Nichols, Nelson-Atkins Trustee, February 19, 1946, Nelson-Atkins Archives, RG80-15 William Rockhill Nelson Trust Records, box 9, folder 11.

Published References

Gustav Ecke, Chinese Domestic Furniture (Peking: Henri Vetch, 1944), 45, pl. 25, (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.